Chapter 145

It was the dawn of Kieran's coronation. The entire Imperial Palace was alive with the hum of last-minute preparations — footmen scurried through marble corridors with urgent steps, maids fussed over velvet banners and cascading bouquets of spring flowers, and guards stood at attention in polished armor that gleamed beneath the early sunlight.

But if there was one place that felt even more frantic than the palace itself, it was the Ashbourne Duchy. Or more precisely — me.

There I was, Riona Ashbourne, pacing around my bedchamber like a restless ghost, my silk robe trailing behind me and my hair still unpinned. My heart thundered so loudly I wondered if the whole household could hear it.